


Moonlight Goddess

by sassan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, really a lot of fluff, the other characters are mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 13:18:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8625991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassan/pseuds/sassan
Summary: Allura, a student at the Garrison University, has to babysit her highly intelligent cousin Pidge. They invite Shiro over.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [louisnoel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/louisnoel/gifts).



> Happy Birthday to the most precious and lovely Lou! I hope you like it ♥ Thank you for being friends with me for so many years already and thank you for always being by my side. I love you to the moon and back.
> 
> (Please note that English is not my first language. This work is proofread.)

Moonlight Goddess

 

It was a cold December's day and Allura had to babysit her five years old cousin Pidge. Pidge's parents were shopping for presents and it was Allura’s job to exhaust the hyperactive cousin so they wouldn't be awake anymore when their parents would come home. Sounds easy but Pidge was so full of energy it was going to be a long day. Long, but also fun. Allura loved her cousin to the moon and back, literally, since the child was obsessed with space.

After they all had lunch together, Allura and Pidge went to a park and build the ugliest snowman the world has ever seen. His body had a weird shape, it was neither round or angular shaped. For his eyes Pidge chose red stones instead of black ones, which made him look quite creepy and the nose was a stick with knots and tiny branches. It looked like an evil witch’s nose. Nonetheless, Pidge was proud of it because they don’t get to spend much time with their twenty years old cousin anymore and building an ugly snowman was fun. Everyone could build a beautiful one but it sure took some creativity - or laziness - to make an ugly snowman.

 

Allura went to the Garrison, a university several hours from their small hometown. Sometimes she would come home for a weekend and this was one of those. They had been rare lately since her studies left her with no free time but when it came to Pidge, she tried her best to fit them into her tight schedule. Allura had a close bond to her family, but her cousin owned a special place in her heart. Maybe because she had seen them grow up, she had been there since the day of their birth and she often babysat them. Sometimes Allura felt like she was their actual mother since Pidge’s mother was a busy business woman and their father worked for the NASA, so he wasn’t home often either. Also, Allura was very close to Matt, Pidge’s older brother. He, too, went to the Garrison. Since he had test coming up, he couldn’t come home for another few weeks.

 

They were out in the cold afternoon sun and Allura took pictures of Pidge with the snowman and a few selfies of the three of them for her photo book. She was one of those people who still printed out her favorite photos to glue them in a book. She liked to look at them when she felt alone and homesick. Allura may be a pretty girl with a good heart but she was also shy and had only a few friends at university, one of them was her professor and then there were Lance and Keith who were constantly bickering each other, Hunk who was easy going but closer to Lance than to the rest of them and Shiro. Shiro was… well. He was the most responsible-minded in their group and he was handsome, very handsome. To quote Lance “stupidly handsome”.

And yes, Allura was in love with him. It wasn’t a crush anymore; she fell for him the first time they met at a lecture and became friends soon after. She missed the right moment to ask him for a date, especially since her father died during her first semester and there were so many other things going on that it didn’t seem right to make a move. Now, two years later, they were something like best friends and she was still deeply in love with him.  She just couldn’t get over it, no matter how hard she tried. So, at times she rather kept to herself. She still blamed herself for not being there, being home, when her father died. And often it just got too much and then she found consolation in her photo book.

 

With a sigh, she shook the memories off, now was not the right time to think about them.

 

“Come on Pidge let's go and get some waffles and hot chocolate,” Allura called for the small kid. Pidge's eyes lit up and they jumped up and down, reaching for Allura’s hand dragging her back to the old Ford Allura was driving. “I want waffles with strawberries and looooots of chocolate,” Pidge claimed, eyes big and mouthwatering already. Pidge was small and skinny but they sure ate like a human equivalent of the blue whale. Their excitement made Allura smile and her heart felt warm and heavy, but the good kind of heavy. The heavy when your heart is just a little bit too full of love.

 

“I will see what I can do,” Allura answered smiling. She got in the driver’s seat while Pidge sat in the back. She turned on her cousin’s favorite music, the soundtrack of the latest Pokémon game, and started the engine. Pidge was humming to the melody and observed the falling snow out if the window. Suddenly they stopped humming. “You know, someone called me Katie in class this week,” Pidge said sadly.

 

“Oh sweetie, did they apologize?”

 

“Yeah, the teacher made him. He didn’t understand it though. Sometimes, I don’t understand it either.”

 

Pidge might be five years old, but they were intelligent, with an IQ higher than everyone else in their class. At a very young age they already got the social construct of gender and decided to rebel against it. One day they came home, claiming that their name was Captain Pidge now because they were a space pirate. Perhaps it started off as a joke between kids but soon everyone realized that Pidge was way happier and beaming when they were addressed as Pidge so their family embraced it. Simple as that Katie became Pidge and Katie was history since.

 

“What do you not understand?”

 

“How I’m just somewhere in between, I’m not a boy, I’m not a girl, I’m stuck in between like the hot dog between the bread.”

 

This metaphor made Allura chuckle. “You, Captain Pidge, don’t need to understand, if you feel good and are happy, no one can take it away from you and you don’t need to explain yourself. You don’t owe them an explanation.”

 

“You’re so wise Allura, when I grow up, I want to be like you.”

 

“Oh dear, I love you. But don’t be like me. Be true to yourself and you will always be the best.”

 

“I love you back,” with that Pidge went back to humming the Pokémon melody.

 

Allura parked the car in front of a waffle restaurant. Since it was Saturday it was busy but the waitress lead them to a table at the window after a few minutes of waiting. While studying the menu card, one could hear Pidge’s stomach growling loudly. They laughed and the child shrugged. “I’m growing, I need a lot of food.” The amount of food Pidge ate was ridiculous. The good metabolism ran in the family; Matt was also always stuffing his face with everything he could find and he was still skinny. That and they all were active, Matt being the captain of the Garrison’s soccer team and Pidge being a track athlete.

 

“So, tell me, how is school going?” Allura asked when their orders arrived. The smell of freshly baked waffles with chocolate sauce was overwhelming and Pidge started taking big bites of it. Allura was a bit more decent and cut her waffle in smaller pieces. They ate for a while until Pidge answered, their mouth still full of the sweet dish. “It’s good, math’s still boring,” was what they said but it rather sounded like “Ish good, mashs shill bo’ing.” After swallowing the food Pidge added, “my writing got better, I can show you when we’re home again.”

 

“Please do so. We also can study math if you want to.”

 

“Yes!!,” the excitement in the kid’s voice was heartwarming and Allura chuckled at the enthusiasm. Pidge wasn’t a first year when it came to math, they could already compete with the third or even fourth year.

 

“Should I call my friend, the one who taught you the multiplication table?”

 

“Yes, he was cool. Also, you two would make a great couple.” It was the bluntness of those words that made Allura blush deeply. “Nah, it’s not like that, we’re just friends.”

 

“Keep telling that yourself, Al, he totally has the hots for you.”

 

Allura coughed. “Pidge! Where did you even learn about ‘the hots’?”

 

“Matt.”

 

“I need to have a serious chat with your brother and no, Shiro does not have ‘the hots’ for me.”

 

“Sure, just ask him to come over and help me with the division of bigger numbers.”

 

“Let’s finish our waffles first.”

 

“Tell me about university.”

 

“It’s good, a bit lonely without my favorite cousin. I started studying another language and I met two people from the first semester, they’re nice even though they’re bickering each other all the time. You would like them. Maybe you can visit me at the Garrison one day.”

 

“I would like to. Tell me more about them.”

 

Pidge talked a lot, they hardly ever kept their mouth shut but they also loved to listen to other people’s stories and so Allura told them about Keith and Lance and their friend Hunk who recently joined the group. There was a lot to tell and she was sure that going into detail about the pranks Lance always had in mind would give Pidge bad ideas. The evil grin on the child’s face being proof of it. “Don’t tell your parents you got that from me,” Allura said, a playfully gloomy look on her face.

 

“Of course not.” Allura didn’t trust those words at all. Pidge finished their waffle first and rambled on about their new favorite game and all the adventures they went through already. Allura enjoyed listening to her cousin’s exciting stories and she got easily carried away. Which was why she played the game in her free time as well.

 

“Matt doesn’t like it,” Pidge stated, eyebrows drawn together in a confused expression.

 

“Matt doesn’t know what’s good.” This made both laugh and Pidge agreed, still not comprehending why his brother didn’t like the new Pokémon games.

 

Allura paid for their little snack soon after and filled with chocolate and happiness they made their way back home. Pidge kept reminding her that she still needs to give Shiro a call for the entire car ride until Allura put on old pop songs from the early 2000s. She knew her cousin hated them, so she sang along to Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys as loud as she could. It did the trick.

 

“Turn it off, please Allura, I got it you’re gonna call him and I don’t need to keep telling you to do it.”

 

“I can’t hear you because Oh baby, baby. Oops!.… I did it again I played with your heart, got lost in the game. Oh baby, baby. Oops!...You think I'm in love. That I'm sent from above.”

 

“STOP! Stop torturing me,” Pidge whined and Allura showed mercy. She turned down the volume but kept singing the lyrics. Once there was Britney on the radio there was no way back.

 

Back home Pidge watched TV while Allura called Shiro. He, too, went home for the weekend and only lived half an hour away. It didn’t take her much to convince him to come over. As soon as she mentioned her younger cousin, he instantly agreed to come over. He liked Pidge and he liked Allura. They didn’t get to spend much time at the Garrison due to their busy schedules and if they did Keith, Lance and Hunk were also part of it. Shiro was, to say the least, eager to spend time with Allura and mentoring her cousin at the same time was doubling the fun.

 

An hour later, the doorbell rang and Pidge was up on their feet faster than a lightning, sprinting through the hallway before Allura could close her book and get up. Pidge squeaked out of joy when they opened the door and the smell of fresh pizzas hit Pidge’s and Allura’s nostrils. In front of them stood Shiro, a handsome man with a big smile and three pizzas in his arms.

 

“Pidge’s parents will be so mad,” Allura said laughing and took the pizzas from Shiro’s arms so he could take off his shoes and jacket. His cheeks and nose were red from the cold but slowly turned back to normal when the cozy warmth of the house spread through his body.

 

Back in the living room the three of them sat down in front of the TV. They enjoyed their pizzas with Tom & Jerry. Which was not the best idea Shiro ever had since Pidge almost suffocated on half of their food. Even Allura had her troubles keeping a straight face and Shiro laid next to her on the floor, holding his stomach with laughter. Pidge and Shiro soon went on to mimicking the fighting mouse and cat and somehow ended up in a tickle fight, Allura being their victim. 

“So, rumor has it that,” Pidge started after they calmed down and finished their - now cold - pizzas and Allura interrupted them, “that you’re gonna teach Pidge more of the multiplication table.”

 

“Is that what the rumors say?” Shiro asked with a cocky wink and a lopsided grin.

 

Allura blushed so deeply, she was sure her dark skin still betrayed her. “Yes, yes that’s what the rumors say.”

 

“Then let’s study some math.”

 

While Shiro and Pidge got lost in a world of numbers, Allura went back to her book, it was a novel she had to read for one of her seminars and she enjoyed it a lot. In fact, she enjoyed it so much, taking notes and completely disappearing in a different world, she didn’t notice that it was suddenly silent around her. After finishing another chapter, she looked up, confused where the noise had gone. But no one was there. Neither Shiro, nor Pidge. Curiously she got up and searched through every room of the ground-floor of the house.

Kitchen? Nothing. Bathroom? Nothing. Guest room? Nothing. Storeroom? Nothing. Living room? Nothing. So, they had to be upstairs. Carefully she tiptoed upstairs. If this was a game of hide and seek, she was not gonna lose. She made a mental note to avoid the second last step because it was creaking. Successfully Allura made it to the first floor. She was sure she knew where Pidge was hiding. There was a giant wardrobe at the end of the hallway where the Holts kept their winter jackets, scarfs and everything else that needed too much space in an ordinary wardrobe and Pidge believed that, if they kept searching the wardrobe, it would lead them to Narnia, so yeah, the five-year-old was probably in there. But Shiro? Pidge must have told him a nice place to hide since he had never been up here before.

 

Think… Allura told herself, think like a child playing hide and seek. For a moment, she stood at the top of the stairs, mentally wandering through the rooms of the first floor. A smile crept on her lips. First: Shiro was a decent young man, so he would either hide in Matt’s room - because Matt was his friend -, Pidge’s room - because they would allow him to -, or the bathroom. Matt’s room seemed to be the most reasonable.

Slowly Allura sneaked towards Matt’s door, she didn’t make a sound as she opened it and closed it behind herself again. Since she was very sure that Shiro was in this room she switched the light on. For a second it was very bright and then total darkness. A blown bulb. Allura screamed, accidentally. Behind the curtain was a human shaped shadow she totally didn’t expect. And even though she told herself that it was only Shiro, her brain needed a moment to process what just happened. As she was feeling her rapid heartbeat through the palm on her chest, she could hear Shiro trying not to laugh. He failed miserably and gave up trying after a second or two and laughed out loud. His laugh was contagious and she joined in.

 

“Found you,” she stated when they calmed down.

 

“I guess,” he answered, a smug smile on his lips as he emerged from the curtains. The moon was just bright enough to throw a silvery light on Shiro, making him seem otherworldly. It took Allura’s breath away. She couldn’t help but stare. They both could feel the sudden change in the atmosphere around them. It was full of wonder and intimacy. Allura had to repeatedly tell her lungs to keep breathing. She was lost for words. All she could do was stare and admire. Shiro did the same. Right before him stood a real-life goddess. A golden deity immersed in silver light. Everything about her was rich, luxurious, foreign, divine. Her white hair was a shimmering silver cascade, so strangely beautiful that Shiro ran his hand carefully through it before he even knew what he was doing. They stood in the middle of Matt’s room, close, inhaling each other’s scent, listening to their heartbeats. Hesitantly Allura placed her hands on Shiro’s hips, pulling him closer. Her eyes fixated his. Then, finally, he leaned in, softly kissing her lips. Her brain shut down and all that mattered anymore was this. This moment. The tender kiss, the hands on her cheeks, her lips on his, their tongues touching ever so softly, her hands on his back. Happiness circulated through her body, slowly infecting every cell. She smiled into the kiss and Shiro let out a small chuckle.

 

“I should have done this months ago,” he whispered, kissing her lips again.

 

“I’m happy you did it now,” Allura whispered back, reaching up to touch his face gently. He looked like a statue, a masterpiece from another era and she knew she was deeply in love with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
